From the Los Angeles Times:

Three years after it approved a version of the opioid analgesic OxyContin designed to discourage the painkiller's abuse, the Food and Drug Administration has effectively barred the original form of the drug from ever reaching the legal U.S. market. The agency says it will approve no new applications from generic drug manufacturers to produce cheaper versions of OxyContin in its original form.

OxyContin has been one of the nation's most abused prescription painkillers, in part because as those addicted to the potent drug built up tolerance for it, they could easily ground it up or dissolve it in water, making the potent extended-release drug easy to snort or inject for a faster, more intense high.

But in April of 2010, the FDA approved a reformulated version of the drug that was resistant to crushing, breaking, chewing or dissolving in water. The newer version is virtually unbreakable, and when dissolved in water, turns into a jelly-like mass.

From USA Today:

Prescription drug abuse is the nation's fastest-growing drug problem, the White House Office on National Drug Policy says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the misuse of these powerful painkillers as an epidemic, with 1.3 million emergency room visits in 2010, a 115% increase since 2004. Overdose deaths on opioid pain relievers surpassed deaths from heroin and cocaine for the first time in 2008.

This rise of Opana abuse illustrates the adaptability of drug addicts and the never-ending challenge facing law enforcement authorities, addiction specialists and pharmaceutical companies. Just when they think they have curbed abuse and stopped trafficking of one drug, another fills the void. Opana's dangerous new popularity arose when OxyContin's manufacturer changed its formula to deter users from crushing, breaking or dissolving the pill so it could be snorted or injected to achieve a high.

As a new, harder-to-abuse Opana formulation replaces the old formula, police and addiction experts expect heroin to fill that void.

For years, drug abusers favored an extended-release version of OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller, for a powerful high. Over the past decade, its abuse was so prevalent that the drug became a household name.

Drug abusers could crush or dissolve the pill's time-release coating to get the full punch of the opioid oxycodone. But Purdue Pharma, OxyContin's manufacturer, reformulated it in August 2010, making it nearly impossible to crush, dissolve and inject. By the beginning of 2011, more than 95% of prescriptions were being filled with reformulated OxyContin, Purdue spokesman James Heins said.

Though people could still abuse the drug by taking larger quantities, some addicts craved the injectable high.

"At first, people tried to defeat it," McGuire said. "Then, Opana started to pop up like crazy."

Opana ER, an extended-release painkiller containing oxymorphone, came on the market in 2006. Endo Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer, completed development of a crush-resistant pill in 2010 but did not get approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) until late last year, said Endo senior vice president Blaine Davis.

On June 14, the FDA moved the old Opana formulation to its list of discontinued drugs. Davis said he doesn't know how much remains on the market.

From CBS News:

New data shows Florida's prescription drug deaths have increased nearly 9 percent last year compared to 2009 despite an aggressive crackdown by law enforcement officials.

Oxycodone was the number one killer, causing 1,516 deaths in 2010, compared to 1,185 the year before. Overall, there were 2,710 deaths in Florida last year caused by prescription drugs, compared to 2,488 in 2009. For the second year in a row, prescription drugs continued to outpace illegal drugs as a cause of death - there were almost three times as many deaths in Florida last year attributed to oxycodone compared with cocaine.

Florida has been a leading source for the illicit purchase of prescription drugs, with addicts and dealers from across the Southeast flocking to clinics for fixes.

From ABC News:

When the oxycodone brand called OxyContin was introduced in the late 1990s, its maker claimed that the drug's controlled-release mechanism would make it less likely to be abused.

The idea was that if it released its opioid slowly, rather than all at once, abusers wouldn't find the immediate rush they crave.

But it didn't take long for drug seekers to devise a workaround that foiled that plan.

Chewing the tablet, crushing it, or dissolving and injecting it -- all destroyed the timed-release mechanism, which unpacked the full opioid punch faster than you could say, "Your brain on drugs."

Since that failed attempt at making a "safe" opioid, researchers have been experimenting with ways to make all prescription painkillers "abuse-resistant."

Although OxyContin maker Purdue had its "tamper-proof" version approved last year, few other attempts to abuse-proof these drugs have made it on the market.

In June, however, the FDA is expected to issue a decision about another oxycodone product -- Acurox, Pfizer's attempt (through the acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals) at entry into the abuse-proof market.

And a handful of other companies are pursuing a pharmacological solution to help mitigate what the federal government has described as an epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it will require some painkiller manufacturers to produce new educational tools in an effort to quell prescription-drug abuse.

The requirements will affect makers of long-acting and extended-release opioids, which include oxycodone, morphine and methadone.

This plan will help shut down "pill mills" where addicts can receive illegal prescriptions, said Gil Kerlikowske, director of national drug-control policy.

Prescription-drug abuse results in one million emergency-room visits a year, Mr. Koh said. Opioid drugs resulted in more unintentional deaths than cocaine or heroin in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From CNN:

Seeking to remove unapproved drugs from the marketplace, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday ordered nine companies to stop manufacturing narcotics whose therapeutic claims have not been proved.

The FDA's warning letters notified the companies they may be subject to legal action if they do not stop manufacturing and distributing "prescription unapproved products" that include high-concentrate morphine sulfate oral solutions and immediate-release tablets containing morphine sulfate, hydromorphone or oxycodone.

This action does not include oxycodone capsules. All of these drugs are used for pain relief and are forms of previously approved medications.

The agency says this is not a recall, but is instead a warning to manufacturers. The companies have 60 days to pull these pain-relief drugs from the market. Distributors have 90 days to stop shipping them.

If these drugs are not off the market by those deadlines, a company could face seizure of the narcotics and legal action.

Although the FDA does not know whether these drugs are unsafe, it has not approved them so cannot certify that the products are 100 percent safe and effective.

"Doctors and patients are often unaware that not all drugs on the market are backed by FDA approval. It is a high priority for the FDA to remove these products from the market because they may be unsafe, ineffective, inappropriately labeled, or of poor quality."

The FDA believes Americans have access to plenty of legal narcotics for pain relief and removing these unapproved drugs will not create a shortage.

Consumers who may be concerned that they are taking any unapproved drug products should refer to the FDA's Unapproved Drugs Web page, which includes a list of manufacturers of these products. Those who find they are taking unapproved drugs should see their health care professionals for treatment options.